Thanks to the folks at IGNITE Corvallis 2 for taking video and posting my presentation from the event.
So I submit to you my mini-manifesto for why I think the best times for journalism are right now:
Aussie working the herd. Round em up, pup!
Rescuing The Reporters, shirky.com
This is a great post. Clay Shirky breaks down the hometown paper and asks hard questions of what’s locally produced and puts some of the “newspapers should do x to survive” into context.
The Audacity of Free, chrisbrogan.com
Hey, I like free stuff as much as the next guy. I like getting paid, too.This post makes a great case for charging something for stuff. But the tricky question is how to boost value of the something enough that someone will part with sheckles for it.
NPR lands $3M grant for hyperlocal initiative, lostremote.com
Look out. Take a look at this report about how National Public Radio’s growth has tracked over the past few years, most importantly in how they’re working to create bonds with audiences.
With msnbc’s purchase of everyblock and local tv stations poised to launch local blogs, local is going to get pretty crowded. NPR will be a force to be reckoned with.
Google unveils new local search for mobile, lostremote.com
This is great: star stuff while searching and get an interactive list on your phone. But it skews toward chain stores in my quick tests. Will have to experiment to see if local joints can be preferred.
Is the revolution over?, collegemediainnovation.org
Is it safe to say that the rehash of micropayment proposals or bitching about comments signals a completed technology distribution curve. Game over.
I’m not so sure. In fact, I’m afraid there’s much more pain as advertisers really get a handle on (and more savvy than ever about) what they really want for their dollars spent.
I do think, though, that the pace of change in types of new tools will slow. That means microblogging as a concept will stick around, but self-hosted solutions or outright competitors to twitter, for example, are likely. Mobile as a viable platform is established, but how people interact with it is sure to change. Etc.
That circular talk, though, will continue as long as the old guard is still waking up to the discussion and cycles through the phases of how to “save journalism.”
Someone ought to make a primer! “So you think you can save journalism: A primer on what’s already been talked about so wired journalists at the bar don’t roll their eyes when you walk away.”
Happier, getrichslowly.org
There’s a whole blog post wrapped into the concepts that come to mind with this post. Until then, chew on this:
The shift from being a rat racer to pursuing happiness is not about working less or with less fervor but about working as hard or harder at the right activities — those that are a source of both present and future benefit.
Fall Roundup by Dolor Ipsum, via Flickr
Plenty of great thought-provoking stuff on the Web this week, from competing publications within one news org to what I think will shape up to be a big fight between journalism and college sports:
Jason Kristufek’s well-researched discussion of a pretty innovative idea: making print and online separate and even competitive arms of the same company. Jason’s in a good position to do this (because his company is being proactive and forward-thinking) but this is going to be a hard-sell in a more entrenched newsroom that won’t even spring for a freelance Web developer.
Journalism’s biggest problems are not online: They’re inside
This really points out a tough truth, especially the hard looks at journalism shortcuts like taking the easy route on tough stories, reporting on politics instead of governance and lazy “he-said, she-said reporting.”
Think finding a new revenue model is difficult? These problems are systemic and institutional.
15 Unconventional Uses of WordPress in Action
Now we’re talking. WordPress rocks. I can think of more than a few ways to use these tools.
Startup news site rocking the boat in Portland
Nice. This project will be one to watch for sure.
Fewer Newspapers Fight to Open Court Proceedings
This kind of glaring omission on the part of news organizations only hastens their irrelevance in the minds of citizens. Moving forward, journalism foundations and professional organizations should start filling the gap on behalf of “journalism” rather than in the name of individual newspapers.
On the plus side:
Journalism Organizations Protest Big Ten Restrictions on Game Coverage
I’ve heard that the Gazette in Cedar Rapids was successful in pushing back at Iowa, who was giving them flak about liveblogging games, etc. Note that the SEC has Big Brother tendencies as well. I think this is going to be a full-on fight with the NCAA, with plenty of repercussions for small organizations who are kind of flying under the radar right now (and probably buckling under individual school pressures, I might add).
And speaking of college football:
The old college try: Seeing all 120 teams possible
OK, so I’m a little biased because this story gives Boise State props for using weeknight college games to gain relevance among college football fans. But it’s a pretty innovative strategy, no? And how else would everyone be talking about LeGarrette Blount this morning?
I’ve been a little slow about posting here, for a variety of reasons (mostly that we bought a house that has required a significant amount of work — and so when I don’t have a paintbrush or wrench in my hand, we’re asleep).
But after Carlos Virgen mentioned some new initiatives in Walla Walla, I implored him to post about them and he called me out to do the same, I figured I’d better oblige.
So here’s a public promise to follow up about the initiatives we’re undertaking at Mid-Valley Newspapers. It involves social networking, some failure and some rising from the ashes. We hope.
More to come.
I just finished watching a fantastic video, produced for the 2009 Craft Brewers Conference.
Take a minute and check it out:
I Am A Craft Brewer on Vimeo.
For the record, I live in Oregon (Beervana) and I love craft beer.
But I’m also a journalism fanatic and I just couldn’t help but think about my own professional values every time these folks were talking about their own work.
This weekend, many of the best and most heretical minds in the field will be meeting at BarCamp News-Innovation Philadelphia to hammer out some new ideas and models for remaking the news industry. I couldn’t make it to Philly, but I’ll be there in spirit and following along from afar.
And so, to journalists who feel abused and stranded by the industry that controls the work we love, let’s borrow the creed of passionate brewers to wrest control of our craft and duty and move boldly into the new century:
We must illuminate our strengths, keep true to our standards, educate those who seek to understand what we’ve created. We must draw hard lines, we must expose those who would seek to capitalize on what we have created. We must not chase after those who do not understand what we’ve created or care about what we do. We believe in quality, bold character, fun, responsibility, and we believe in pushing the boundaries.
Do good work in Philly. And every day forward.
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While reporters often write about workforce training and development in beats they cover, journalists have simply been left out in the cold when it comes to dealing with seismic shifts in their own workplace.
As part of a couple of media companies over the years who have ditched newsroom training completely, I’ve had to do much of the work on educating myself for the wired world on my own (for good and bad, I suppose).
At the recent BarCamp NewsInnovation-Portland, I heard from a range of folks who asked for basic information on new media — the kinds of things they hear about ever day and feel like they should know, but don’t know where to go or who to ask.
In light of this, I’m proposing a series of training sessions in a few locations for working journalists, citizen journalists and other media types.
I just read today about an effort at a couple of Belgian publications to teach social media. I think their list of must-knows is right on:
They’ve also planned a series of multimedia workshops for audio, video, and animations, and considered a discussion on striking out on your own.
My idea is to focus more on concepts of social media — why these things are important and game-changing; how to include them in your daily workflow; why journalism isn’t newspapers — than on specific platforms and show how twitter and facebook and digg and flickr are parts of the same whole rather than individual phenomena. I think that’s more important moving forward than platform-specific training.
If enough people are interested, I can start putting these together. I was thinking of charging a small fee to cover costs and maybe of taking the show on the road to capture as many people as possible.
I can imagine linking up with professional organizations (SPJ, anyone?) who really should be at the forefront of helping members prepare for changed professional landscape.
Anyone have any thoughts on this? Advice?
Aaron Swartz piles on the praise for a This American Life show focused on the U.S. housing market meltdown. Swartz starts off by drawing lessons to fix the news: declining circulation, talk show shouters, aging readers.
Here are three points he suggests we can learn from the episode:
Not groundbreaking, but good points. After a quick look at his blog, I see a non-journalist (at least a non-journalism-focused blogger) starting to understand the problem.
It’s the comments that get to me. Here’s a guy who’s wrangling with a fundamental question of our industry and this is how people respond:
Excuses. Whining. Plain and simple. And for someone who’s just starting to understand how fundamentally our industry must change, it’s discouraging.
So Aaron, if you can read this, keep up the good thinking. You’re right, and your three points illustrate good journalism, whether done today or 30 years ago.
No excuses.
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Got an e-mail this morning from the “online-news” listserve from Poynter, pointing to a new post talking about tools:
Ask an experienced carpenter about the differences between a table saw and a jigsaw and you are sure to hear a detailed explanation about when to choose one over the other. Same thing if you ask a plumber about a fixed or adjustable wrench. Or a surgeon about a scalpel or a gamma knife. Or a journalist about the differences between Dreamweaver and a content management system? Well, maybe not.
Here’s how I responded:
As a graduate student (returning after working as a daily reporter), I made sure to take an independent study in basic Web classes offered to undergrads. I did this because I knew I wanted to get back into the business after school and realized that without such training, I’d be left behind. Faculty must start recognizing this and reflecting it in coursework.
The biggest problem I’ve seen in J-schools is that advertising and journalism are taught side-by-side. I know, I sound like a grizzled editing prof, but hear me out: many students come out of school with the idea that news gathering and press releases are somehow related or–worse–of equal importance.
Regardless of whether students go on to be “journalists” in the daily-paper sense of the word, J-school grads need to be prepared to navigate the dynamic Web and help steer their bosses there as well.
Sure, there are a pile of enthusiasts who blog and do some reporting and some Web design. That’s the story of the Web. But trained journalists must start leading the charge toward information management: “life organizing” for readers.
Regardless of the technology used, there are two keys as I see it:
Students more than ever need to learn how to create and manage vast networks of people. This is where blogging can be a great tool and more organizations must start using its two-way functionality instead of thinking in old “mass comm” ways.
Thoughts?